Ever's biggest mistake
by santana the strange
Summary: Ashlyn and her husband Maddox both thought that they had it made, life was sweet with their twin daughter and son Ever and Urban, even if they were both demon possessed. The twins were just ordinarily half demon, not any of the Pandora demons. Anyway, when Ever leaves the heavens for the Budapest fortress she has inherited, she meets a stunning stranger who seems familiar to her.
1. Chapter 1

When Ever Lord turned eighteen she was awoken in her family's fortress by a loud commotion. _Great,_ she thought, _who's pissed Dad of this time. _When she turned to her brother Urban, for they both shared the same room and were inseparable, she saw him stretch and yawn, his horns climbing out the back of his neck to stretch round to his head where a crop of honey golden hair sat. When he saw her watching him, he smiled lazily and nodded his head at her in acknowledgement.

'Violence is up again I see,' Urban voiced in a deadened tone and Ever nodded. They were the twin son and daughter of a demon possessed lord. Maddox Lord was the keeper of Violence for he had killed the owner of the box, Pandora, by stabbing her six times in the stomach. In turn he'd had to suffer the same punishment for many years, dealt out by their uncle Reyes keeper of Pain and then his soul had been taken to hell courtesy of Uncle Death, or as they knew him, Lucien.

Their mother was Ashlyn Darrow, an ex-mortal woman who had charmed both the keeper of Violence and the demon itself. She had been a gifted female, capable of hearing any conversation that had gone on just from standing in a place. And unknown to their overprotective father, Ever had inherited the same gift. Yes her mother had spent many years trying to get rid of the "curse" as she saw it, but Ever was blessed in a way her mother had not been. Yes she could hear the voices, but only if she chose to. And even having so many Lords around, being half Lord didn't mean that the voices would stop.

'It's our birthday; couldn't they at least be a little quieter?' Ever asked as she climbed out of bed and made her way to the wardrobe her father had lovingly made for her, a wardrobe he surprisingly hadn't broken in a fit of temper the moment he'd built it.

'Where are my beautiful children?' A shrill male voice called out and with a deep sigh that echoed her minutes older brother Ever turned to see William enter the room just as she was about to pick out some clothes. Alas she was only wearing her nighty, and so it made his intrusion even the more appropriate.

'We're not your children,' the twins denied him at once and the immortal male only shrugged and shook his head. The male deemed them his children because he had sliced their mother open and carried them out. Hell; Ever could have done that herself. Looking down she flexed her demonic claws and wondered how she would cut him up this day.

'You may as well be, please just humour uncle Willy would you?' The randy immortal asked and Ever shook her head as she picked out a pair of tight blue jeans and a black top. On many women tight jeans could look ridiculous, but she did have the very long legs to pull the item off, after all she did stand at 6ft 5, tall for any woman, mortal or immortal, the latter of which she was.

'I will humour you as soon as you leave our room, I am improperly dressed,' Ever snapped and Willy gave her a look that said: and?

'And your brother is here.'

'My brother is not a randy old man who would screw anything in a skirt or a pair of tight jeans,' Ever railed back, feeling her violet eyes grow hot with rage, and felt fire build up beneath her skin, her claws straightening as if to attack.

'Point taken, but you may as well be my children,' William said as he made his way out of the door, Ever glad to see his golden head leave the room.

'God what a nuisance,' Urban voiced and as Ever shut the wardrobe door after collecting all of the clothing she would wear this day she spotted her reflection in the mirror and stared longingly at herself. After all she was quite a beauty. With long black hair, that shone like midnight as it flowed down her back, and eyes of violets, skin of honey Ever Lord was a very beautiful woman. And if that wasn't enough her large breasts and curvaceous waist was enough to make any man fall for her. Alas with a fortress full of married or mated men who were ones Uncles there was nothing really she could do, nothing she could expect from these men.

One of Ever's favourite Aunts was Viola, keeper of Narcissism, and a constant babysitter of the pair of them when they had been growing up. Ever couldn't be sure but she felt as though some of the demon's influence had rubbed off on her, for she was still staring at her reflection in the mirror.

'Hey sis, please I'm still in the room,' Urban groaned in disgust when she reached up to palm one of her breasts. She dropped her hand instantly at his word and stroked hair, careful not to brush the horns that curved around the back of her neck. That would have just made things even worse. She just hated how sensitive they were.

Ever had barely dressed and brushed out her hair smooth again when Viola herself, Tasmanian devil thing in tow, entered the room looking gorgeous as usual.

'C'mon you two, Maddox is waiting for you downstairs in the lounge and Violence is getting a little worked up that his daughter and son aren't there to open the presents he killed for you this time,' Viola said in a musing tone and Ever and Urban exchanged glances as they rolled their eyes. Again, when would Violence realise that they weren't at all fond of the "gifts" he gave them each year?

'Okay I'm coming,' they said as one, but not before they reached for the bejewelled daggers lying on their bedside tables. The daggers were identical and had been gifts from their Uncle Kane, or Candy Kane as William liked to call him, when they were mere months old. They may have been inappropriate gifts, but as half demon infants they had both been able to remember the time they were gifted with their first weapons and as their first memory they both adored their daggers. Uncle Kane was in fact their favourite Uncle even if he used to cause disaster after disaster, but that's what his demon was after all.

'Oh and a warning,' Viola said as she peeked her beautiful head round the door once more. 'William's kids turned up, they think it's a party or something,' she said and Urban sighed at that. Not the four horsemen, he hated the fact that even the woman, White was stronger than he was. On the other hand Ever grinned wider, even if they hadn't bought them a gift she would still be glad they were there. White was her favourite and only female cousin and Ever loved sparring with her, or just generally chatting to her about her battles. Ever was yet to have any of her own, but that was what happened when you had an overprotective demon possessed Lord for a father.

'Cool,' Ever said as she finished brushing her hair and made her way down to the lounge to see the rest of her family, wondering what each of them had bought her this year.


	2. It needs to be protected

'Happy birthday Ever and Urban,' their family called out as they entered the living room, there stood her mother Ashlyn, a golden beauty, a female version of her brother and beside her stood their father Maddox, that dark haired, violet eyed warrior winding his arm around the former of their parents. They were the most beautiful and odd wedded couple she had ever seen, but then again what had _she _got to go on? All the couples, married or not, that she knew were half demon possessed as it was, that or they were different types of immortal women. She wouldn't want it any other way; her crazy demon possessed family were the best she'd ever had.

'Here open my present first Ever,' Aunt Anya said as she drunkenly stumbled forward, the scent of Ambrosia on her breath as she threw her arm around Ever's neck and hugged her, more like strangled her! Drunk already?! Well this was Anarchy; never give her a reason to drink!

'Sure thing,' she said as she took the thin rectangular box from the goddess. Nobody messed with Anarchy! Ever wasn't scared but she was wiser than most; she knew that she did not yet have the strength, if not the years to win a battle against the goddess and would surely fare worse. She was merely half demon, she would never begin a fight with a goddess she wasn't sure she could win against.

And when she tore off the wrapper she saw that Anya had bought her yet again another inappropriate birthday gift. Well at least this year she was old enough to accept it, and even wear it if she really wanted to. As she picked up the ice blue halter neck and matching skirt that was identical to her Aunt's she didn't have to force the smile that came. She truly did love this colour, had envied Anya for her outfit. And it turned out the goddess had bought her one. She probably did it to anger her parents, for Ashlyn and Maddox would never even think about their daughter having a boyfriend let alone wearing something so skimpy, but she cared not she loved it.

'Thank you so much Anya!' She gushed, putting it back into the box, making a mental note to wear it later, not just to piss her parents off but it was a start. She turned to look at her brother and saw that their Aunt had bought him something equally inappropriate, except it was more masculine obviously. Anarchy was cruel but not that much, nobody was that cruel as to put the most masculine eighteen year old half demon man in a halter neck and skirt. And what a shame that was Ever mused and looked at Anya knowing the goddess thought the same.

'Next is my present!' Her fey Aunt Josephina exclaimed and waddled forwards, her bump getting almost too big for her to carry. She was carrying their Uncle Kane's child and even William, the expert on demonic children, could not tell them anything about the pregnancy. It was really quite odd because he remained more silent than usual whenever she walked into the room. But then again everything seemed to fall to pieces whenever the pregnant wife of Disaster walked into the room. Even Ever could tell that the demonic child or children had inherited their father's demon's power, that or the demon now lay waste in her.

'Tink what have I told you about moving too quickly and getting too excited. I hope you didn't buy Ever anything fragile!' Kane exclaimed and Ever smiled, he'd overcome many hurdles and odds to have the woman he'd wanted more than anything else. Why couldn't Ever have someone like that? Maybe because the only males she knew were angel warriors, or her cousins. For the most part Ever wasn't bothered about men or having children, she was only eighteen, she had time for all of that when she'd reached immortality and had become as strong as she could. It was Ever's dream to surpass White, the strongest woman that she knew. Well the strongest demon woman she knew, after all White was one of the four that would herald the apocalypse, the only woman who would help herald the apocalypse, she had to be strong.

When Ever opened the box her Aunty Josie offered her she found something quite the opposite of what she'd been given from Anarchy. At her first glance she could not tell what it was and looked up at the pregnant woman confused before she realised what exactly it was. And she didn't think these things could be taken from the person who had them.

Aunt Josephina had given Ever a glove, a glove which had a lot of power into it. This was Josephina's power, or at least one of them, the woman had given her youngest niece the power to take a being's strength just by touching them.

'Why?' She wanted to cry, but she spoke the word normally.

'I have no need for that anymore, it only hindered me, I have a child on the way and I would not wish to drain the little strength that he or she might have. I give you this gift as you are my beloved niece and I want you protected from the evils of the world,' Josephina said as she rubbed her swollen bump lovingly. Above the happy couple a light bulb shattered. As Ever gasped Kane brushed the shards off of him and his wife, and she realised that he was used to it.

'But I will never visit the world, mother and father say it is full of evil human beings that want to eradicated the Lord line, or hold us all ransom until we give them what they want, and what that is I do not know,' she mused and Josephina shared an apologetic look at Ever's parents. 'But thank you for your gift anyway Auntie,' Ever was quick to add. She knew that it was excruciating for a fey to give up their powers willingly.

After all of her aunts and uncles had gifted her with what they had thought appropriate for her, clothes (Anya), powers (Josephina), make-up (not hard to guess), a great sword with a pearl in the centre (white) and many other gifts her parents turned to her and handed her a present that looked as though it might contain a scroll. Ever loved old scrolls, as many of them contained spells that a demon like her could use. Others contained stories of the Greeks and the Titans, such brutal war stories that they made Ever cry and sigh with longing. She wished she could be there too.

'Thank you,' Ever said as she accepted the gift, not noting the weary looks on her parents faces. For this was no scroll and it was no trifling story of heavenly battles (Sienna's was the best, Aunt Sienna was Uncle Paris's wife).

Whilst she uncurled the paper she heard every being in the room hold their breath, lucky things they could hold it for as long as they wanted, an immortal could not die from loss of oxygen. When she saw what was on the paper she herself almost held her own breath.

'What is this, why are you giving me this?' she demanded of her mother and father, wondering why she and not Urban would be gifted with something as precious as this. This was her family legacy, their beginning. 'Are you all sure about this?' she asked of her aunts and uncles.

'As sure as we'll ever be,' the agreed as one.

'But…why?' She questioned of them and they all met her with serious stares.

'It needs to be protected.'


	3. Ever learns of The Hunters

'You're giving me the deeds to the Budapest fortress?' Ever asked, her tone dubious. What did they mean when they said that it needed to be protected? She wanted to ask, but felt that she would not be told.

'Of course, you are eighteen years old Ever, you are the most powerful of both my children,' her mother spoke, and as she did, what she left unsaid was still heard by Ever. Ashlyn Lord, wife of Maddox, knew that Ever had inherited the power that now lay dormant within the mother. A power that could never be left dormant within the daughter.

And not only was that gift the reason that their parents believed her the stronger of the twins, no she had inherited her father's strength exactly, in the same way she had her mother's hearing. And now she had a gift from Josephina, a gift that she placed upon her own right hand. Were these the gifts that encouraged her parents to offer her the fortress? A fortress her parents, her family had not set foot in, in years, eighteen to be exact.

'Danika?' It was all she had to say before the woman stepped forth, her birthday gift, a vision of the future painted upon a beautiful canvas framed in gold. And as Ever stood there, she felt as though she were Aurora, sleeping beauty, being offered gifts from every one of her relatives. Well as long as the painting did not depict her sleeping in a coma then she felt that she would be okay. She did not know any males outside of her family, in fact she had been rather closed off from anyone not in this fortress.

'I will speak to you about this painting later for I do not think it is something you would want your parents to over hear right now,' Danika said and when Ever's brows furrowed Danika lead her to a corner of the room and she heard exactly what it was that her parents would not want to hear, and yet she felt that there was still more.

'Of course, Auntie,' she replied, wondering why she would be in danger at the fortress, she'd been trained by the strongest of the Lords, and thankfully hope and selfishness was not there to help.

'My dear Ever, I am entrusting with you the most important thing to all of your family, something we have been searching for our entire possession and what we have managed to find. We are sending you to Earth and the Budapest fortress because that is where it is. I will not give you the exact location within the fortress but know we placed it there because our enemies the Hunters would expect us to have it on us at all times,' Maddox spoke and Ever's brows furrows.

The Hunters? Who were the hunters? Did they have enemies? If so why had her parents never told her about them?

'The hunters?' Urban asked the question that had been on her mind and she breathed a sigh of relief that he had been the one to speak it instead of her. In actual fact Ever had always thought Urban the favourite child of her parents, and so for them to give her the entire Budapest fortress all to herself was very odd. How many children did they expect her to have in the future? A lot of girls got many an expensive thing for their eighteenth, a birthday party, a car, they didn't get an entire fortress, that had always seemed to her to be a castle.

'Urban, Ever, the hunters are our family's greatest enemy. They believe that we are the evil embodiments, regardless of the fact that it is our demon within that is the evil one. They wrongly believe that killing us is the best way to rid the world of evil.' When Ever smiled and opened her mouth to comment that surely the hunters were good her father continued. 'They killed your uncle Baden, keeper of distrust and now his demon is crazed and infecting people will more distrust. We had heard many years ago that one of the hunters was infected with distrust and so we killed them, we would rather have him loose than the remainders of your uncle living within a hunter for distrust was as much a part of Baden as his heart or his lungs.'

'Do not think lightly of them dearest niece,' Uncle Kane voiced and she turned to him so fast that she could have given herself whip lash. 'I was captured by them once, they took me to hell where I was...' he trailed off and she realised that the memory was too traumatising for him.

And then there came tales from all the rest of her family of which had been captured by the hunters. Paris had been sexually deprived and tortured, and then seen his beloved Siena killed before him by one of her own, yes she had once been a hunter. Torin had nearly been killed by one of them, had had his throat sliced, but thankfully his demon, Disease had saved him from death, but had infected almost every mortal in the town, even their mother Ashlyn had been infected and Aunty Anya had saved her, given her and Maddox the same life, if one died so did the other.

'My gods,' Ever said and Urban shuddered beside her. 'But Uncle Aeron...' she trailed off when Aunt Olivia spoke up, she was a bonafide angel.

'Your uncle's demon was taken from him because he committed a selfless act. The demon was taken from him and placed back inside the box that released it. He saved my wings, my life by giving up his own and because of that he was returned to the state he had been before his possession. He is one of the lucky ones,' Olivia finished and Ever smiled at that, smiled at the way Olivia stroked her bump. Yes both her and Josephina were expecting children and Ever couldn't wait to meet her cousins, but it seemed that now she would be partnered with the fortress and would not be able to see these cousins unless she left the fortress and that what needed to be protected.

'Now, now enough of this depressing talk,' Kaia spoke up and her husband Strider beside her tightened his hold on her, so protective. 'Me and the girls are going to go get a make-over because Ever is looking so rough this morning, I think I even see the beginnings of a mono-brow and moustache, can't have that can we now girls?' She asked of her twin Bianka and her sister Taliyah and their youngest sister Gwen, and before Ever had known what had hit her she was ambushed and dragged away by four very strong harpies and White who was just as strong as they were, if not stronger, intending on making her over. Great...


	4. The Painting

'Ever, come here please,' the sound of her Aunt's voice entered her mind and she looked up to see Danika waving her over, still holding the painting. Ever was dressed in the skimpy outfit that Anya had bought her, it had confused Ever as much as it had delighted her, why had Anya bought her this outfit to wear? There was no oner in the heavens to seduce, they were all her family. Unless there was something about the fortress on Earth that Anya knew that she had yet to learn. Would Danika, the all seeing eye, inform her of this fact in the moment that would come when she made her way over there?

'Hey Aunt Dani,' she said as she took a seat beside her Aunt who had taken to the corner of the room, as though she was about to give away top secrets, even though all she was telling Ever was something about the painting she had created, the vision she had seen about Ever. Odd, for this was the first time Ever had been gifted with a painting from her Aunt, did it mean that she had had a vision so clear and so horrific that she had remembered? Or so clear and amazing? Ever did not know and as she took the seat beside her family member, she herself felt nerves double, no triple within her.

'Ever, sweet, sweet Ever. I care for you almost more than I do for your brother, and there's something you must see, something you must know about this painting. But first of all I must warn you, please do not ignore my vision, my painting for it is a warning of what is to come,' Danika said, her breaths deep as she tried to calm her nerves.

'Please just tell me, mother and father are probably going to come out with the cake any minute now,' Ever said, knowing that if that happened she would be pulled away from her and would never get to know what the warning was.

'If you can see the truth of this painting I won't have to explain myself,' Danika said and Ever nodded as the older woman turned the canvas around. And as she did so, Ever almost lost her breath,

On the canvas was painted a vision of her, dressed in this very outfit she wore this night and as she slept in one of the many rooms in the fortress, a man, a young man it seemed, climbed in through the window beside her bed. He was handsome, he had beautiful long black hair and reminded her of her father, other than the fact that his eyes were the colour of blood, instead of violets. He wore all black, as though he were sneaking in, as though he were after something. However instead of looking forward he gazed at her with those eyes of blood and Ever had to wonder what the man wanted. Did he not want this valuable thing that was located somewhere in the fortress, the thing that her parents said only she could protect. Coming back to it, what did they want her to protect! It was really beginning to frustrate her.

'He's beautiful...wait he's a demon isn't he?' Ever asked and Danika nodded, and she carefully pointed towards something she had not seen before. After all how could Ever have known to look for, or recognise it?

'This demon is a traitor to the immortal race Ever, look carefully at his neck,' Danika advised and Ever looked at the tattoo the man had on his neck. It looked like a side ways eight, it was the symbol for infinity. When her eyebrows furrowed in confusion Danika continued, 'he is a hunter.'

'But, he looks harmless,' Ever voiced and Danika shook her head angrily.

'Listen Ever, the thing your parents, we are hiding in Budapest Fortress is so important to us and our existence, your whole family that if the Hunters got a hold of it they would have the power to destroy us all,' Danika announced and when Ever's gaze turned back to the hunter and to his perfect appearance Danika took a hold of her and shook her hard. 'No Ever, do not be fooled, do not let this demon take you in with lies and promises or sweet, romantic words. He will seduce you if he has to to get our most prized possession,' her aunt informed her and Ever nodded.

'Okay, so kill this man on sight, got it,' she said, thinking about the gloves that her Aunt Josephina had given her as a gift, the power she had been gifted with. She would use that power and steal his, for only then could she beat him. She would stay alert at that bedroom window, and when she heard the slightest noise she would make her way over. If she saw this man, she would touch him with her glove and then push him out of the window, then hopefully he would fall to his death, his immortality hers. At least for a little while.

'Please don't let us down Ever, your life is on the line here too,' Danika said, passing her the canvas, in its protective case and just in time too, for her father came in carrying a cake, that Paris had probably baked, and singing the happy birthday song to her and her brother.

'I would never let you down, not with so many of my Aunts pregnant,' she said and looked down at Danika's bump. 'I will not place your children in danger, believe in me,' she finished and her Uncle Reyes made his way over, to sit beside his wife and rub her slowly but surely growing stomach and whisper to the child within her womb. The child who would be half demon just as she was.

'Thank you,' Danika whispered and Ever nodded as she made her way to blow out the candles with her brother on the cake.

'You leave tonight,' her mother informed her as she made her way to the table and Ever nodded, of course she did, the outfit she was wearing was the same as the one on the canvas on the painting and in the vision, of course she left for tonight, as it was tonight the hunter/demon would be breaking into the fortress.

'Of course,' she said and when her mother looked at her confused she only explained that she was al right with the choice they had made. Even though she wasn't. Ever was scared and nervous of her first trip to Earth. Perhaps she could talk to White about it, maybe she would have answers and if she didn't she could help train Ever up. As she blew the candles out on her cake Ever made two great wishes: the first to find her true love down on Earth and second to be able to beat the demon who wanted to steal from her family, to destroy them. She would take him down without a single thought to his well-being. Her family could definitely count on her. She would protect their property with her very life because they had put hope and faith into her.


	5. Ever's first night on Earth

Ever was escorted to Earth, to the Budapest fortress at midnight by her aunt Siena, Queen of the Greeks. And as they touched down in front of the entrance to the castle like building, Ever realised just how beautiful it really was, beautiful and creepy, considering the darkened forests around it and the hill leading down to the city. The hill was there to keep the Hunters and the humans alike out of their property.

'So what do you think?' Siena asked beside her and Ever shrugged, what was she supposed to think? She had been taken to this fortress that was basically a castle, and told that she would live there because she had to protect something. The only problem she had with this arrangement was…

'How long do you expect me to remain here?' Yes she spoke to Siena not in terms of her family's spokeswoman but in the fact that she knew it was Siena who'd had the last say in the family decision as the Queen of the heavens. Siena had been the one to cast the deciding vote between her and her brother for this beautiful property. But did Urban even get a single vote? Ever was beginning to wonder about that. What had Danika seen in Ever's future that made her think she was a good candidate to protect the fortress? What had Danika seen in the future that made her think, know, that the fortress needed someone in it? And why just one half demon woman?

'As long as it takes for us to destroy the Hunters, Ever,' Siena said and she sighed at that. Just how long would it take for the Hunters to be eradicated? Ever had never heard about them growing up and had decided that it was because they weren't a threat, but now, now it seemed that they were a threat. To her it sounded as though they'd been regrouping and getting their strength and power back up, and now, now they were powerful enough to try and take what was in the Fortress. Or did they think that, after eighteen years, it was deserted enough for them to finally make a hit on it? Well they had waited too long, Ever thought to herself as she made her way to the entrance of their family estate.

'I will remain here, I will train and I will grow powerful enough to take each and every one of them down,' Ever promised, turning back to face her most powerful Aunt. An Aunt she idolised as much as she idolised her cousin White. She'd always wanted to be as powerful as these two women and she would, she would train night and day, sleeping only when she collapsed, waking to make sure there were no intruders.

'Good, I hope you're ready Ever, oh and before I leave here. Your parents signed this in your name and it's unlimited, thanks to your uncle Torin. I never did understand how he got so good with stocks, anyway, this will buy you anything you need Ever,' Siena said and handed Ever a rectangular piece of plastic. It reminded her of the playing cards her and the horsemen loved to play, but it had bumpy bits that seemed to be numbers.

'What is this?' Ever asked, feeling like a complete idiot, having a sense that it was supposed to be a simple piece of technology that all humans or earthlings at least could use. Her thoughts were evidenced when she could hear her aunt muttering in her head about how people born off the Earth could be so funny when learning the technology of the planet.

'This is a credit card, it goes into a machine in the face of a building and you put in the four digit numbers and money comes out. Your parents have included a letter, a rather large letter which explains all you will need to know about the world and the things within it. Oh and Ever dear?' Siena said and when she looked up she carried on. 'Demons aren't a regular fixture on Earth and even if some of the beings on this planet are Demons they hide their horns and scales very well. You do have the ability to do what is called glamour and make your horns and scales look as though they do not exist upon your flesh,' Siena said and Ever nodded. Yes, that seemed plausible, even if she did not know how to do such a thing, perhaps it was also collated in with the million and one other things her family wanted her to know about this odd planet.

'Well Aunt Siena I guess this is it for now,' Ever said as she felt a pang in her chest which could only be describe as home sickness. This would be the first time she was away from her family, her mother, her father, her aunts, her uncles and even her twin brother. Why he couldn't be here she didn't know? She also wouldn't question the decision of a goddess. After all who was she to question a goddess when she was a mere demon? 'Just give me a heads up when one of the children are born alright?' It was the only other thing she would ask for, that and constant conversation with her Aunt Danika, but Danika had already agreed to do so. She had a phone that somehow managed to reach all the way down to Earth from heaven, and also she had increased the range of their telepathy so that Ever could read her mind from all the way down here. Only the select thoughts of course. The thoughts that were about the mission, not for example what Danika was cooking or what she was thinking about eating for supper or what she was craving. As nice as it would be to know, Ever need only know the important bits, for example if Danika had seen something about Ever and the mission and the demon.

'Sure thing honey,' Siena handed Ever the letter and her suitcase and then, before the demon knew what was happening, the goddess pulled her in and hugged her tight. 'Good luck honey, and don't trust anyone who comes to the Fortress. If Danika doesn't inform you about us coming to see you, don't trust anybody. Kill them on sight, okay?' Ever nodded and then looked up to see nothing but the dark forest. Siena was gone. And Ever was alone, truly alone for the first time in her life, left alone with the voices in her head, many malicious and many pleading.

'Let's go see if I can hunt down what this important object is,' Ever muttered to herself as she entered the fortress, apparently it had now been programmed to only letting in those who were a part of the Lords family.


	6. Ever's night in the fortress

Ever entered the fortress hesitantly; her blade drawn behind her back. She had never been here before and neither had her parents, how was she to know what the protective system was like here? Her family had left it a long time ago and therefore, there it was safe to say that there was nothing to look down upon the town. The only protections she had from her unknown enemies the Hunters were the large hill and the wood.

'Okay, so far so good,' she said to herself and sheathed her blade, in front of her stood a staircase to the second floor and off to the sides there were corridors leading to other parts of the fortress she could only guess.

Ever took the stairs two at a time, searching for the room her parents had informed her of. This room was, or had been Torin's main headquarters when it came to observing the world around him. From that control panel he had made money for the Lords, more money than they could have ever spent. Money she now was in possession of.

It wasn't a great feat. The room hummed with energy and she had located it on that alone. Something was still working in there and Ever was curious as to what it was, pushing the door open and entering to see computer screens fill up one whole wall above the desk. She neared these computers and on switching them on she saw that they had been on standby, this whole time. But what was the need to watch a place where one did no longer live? What was so important about this treasure that her parents wanted her to protect?

She could see the forest, the hill and all four sides of the fortress in great detail, she could see every microscopic area and knew without a doubt that Torin had been watching the fortress from the place she had called home for her entire life. Until today, today she had been instructed to live in the old family home.

So the fortress was protected as much as she'd hoped it would be. But if that were the case then why was she needed. What had Aunt Danika seen, other than the demon possessed hunter climbing in through the window?

Ever spent half an hour rigging the computers to alarm if anybody came anywhere near the fortress hooked it up to her mobile phone and made her way to the bedroom just opposite the control room.

The room was filled with all kinds of things. And it seemed that whoever had had this room had left in a hurry, or had died. The walls were filled with beautiful, sharp weapons, and chains hung from the bed post. She would have considered this Reyes's old room, but it didn't smell like him. It was a room that smelled very foreign to her; there was no smell of any of her relations inside this room, not on the walls, not on the bed and not in the air. This room was all in one place.

There was a bed side table made of some sort of wood painted black and there was a matching desk and wardrobe. The bed covers were of a dark silk and the pillows were scarlet like blood. Whoever had had this room had cared for the finer things in life and had enjoyed his solitude. Just like Torin had.

But this was not Torin's room; she found no dark gloves in the bed side table and the closet was filled with clothes, clothes that were covered in dust. They had been here this whole time if not longer than eighteen years. And even though they were covered in dust, the rest of the room wasn't; someone in her family had cleaned this room, but that person had left everything behind.

Ever climbed into the double bed, marvelling at the comfort and kept an eye on the window to the left of her. And as she closed her eyes the memory of the demon possessed hunter came to mind and she drifted into sleep with the picture of him in her mind. Tomorrow, tomorrow she would begin her training and wire every window in the fortress, just in case the cameras her uncle had placed around the fortress and in the forest weren't as adequate as she had hoped.


End file.
